UCSD GETS $6.4 MILLION TO HIRE RESEARCHER

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has announced a $6.4 million award for UC San Diego to relocate Eric T. Ahrens, a professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Ahrens studies cellular biology with nuclear magnetic resonance tools that let him examine the activities of living cells, including stem cells. The cells can be tracked inside whole animals, helping to establish their roles in diseases and how they respond to therapies.

Under the grant, which was announced Thursday, Ahrens will create a Stem Cell Imaging Center to characterize the anatomy, function and molecular behavior of stem cells. The center will help other stem cell researchers see how the cells they’re working with react in research and in clinical testing.

Ahrens earned a doctorate in physics at UCLA and performed postdoctoral work at California Institute of Technology. He is on the board of directors of Pittsburgh-based Celsense, which uses MRI to track the migration of transplanted cells.

The grant was one of six awarded to attract out-of-state researchers who can help apply stem cell research to cure diseases and injuries. Other researchers coming to California will be based in Stanford University, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, UC Santa Cruz and the J. David Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco.

In addition, the stem cell agency granted $6.37 million to Sangamo BioSciences. The Richmond-based biotech will match the grant to develop a possible treatment for beta-thalassemia, an inherited form of anemia. The total amount of all grants totals $42 million.

Members of the regenerative medicine institute’s governing committee approved the grants at an agency meeting in Berkeley. The institute was established in 2004 by California voters, funded with $3 billion in bond money.